Phil Bradley's Blog

Thursday, May 05, 2005

 
There's mention of a new Google application called the Google Web Accelerator. (Link goes to Googleblog). It's a short mention, basically pointing it out. You can download the thing from http://webaccelerator.google.com/. However, before you do, it's worth reading a bit about it. The Google FAQ provides some useful stuff on it. However, it's also described as a "potential nightmare" from SEO Scoop and Fantomaster calls it "the most audacious and blatant piece of spyware ever visited upon the global Web"

Basically the product cuts down on browsing time by using their servers to act as a proxy, by storing web pages, caching material to their system and so on. Put simply this means that Google could , it is argued, see what everyone is looking at. All the surfing you do they'll see, supposedly without being able to view secure stuff like your banking data. I mentioned it to a friend of mine, who knows very little about the net and her reply was instant "There's no way that I'd install that!" I have to confess that I agree with her. I'm really not keen on what Google is trying to do here, and I think it's a step (or three) too far. I'm not going to install it myself, since people are already reporting problems with it, so I'll just sit and watch and keep you updated on its progress.
Phil 11:33 AM